Reconciling Tourism Development and Conservation Outcomes Through Marine Spatial Planning for a Saudi Giga-Project in the Red Sea (The Red Sea Project, Vision 2030)

Chalastani, Vasiliki Ι.; Manetos, Panos; Al-Suwailem, Abdulaziz M.; Hale, Jason A.; Vijayan, Abhishekh P.; Pagano, John; Williamson, Ian; Henshaw, Scott D.; Albaseet, Raed; Butt, Faisal Shafique; Brainard, Russell E.; Coccossis, Harry; Tsoukala, Vasiliki K.; Duarte, Carlos M.

doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00168

Cited by 33 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The noise, artificial light, and movement of vehicles and their occupants can disturb nesting turtles and may cause females to leave the beach without depositing eggs. Jazirat Mashabah is currently uninhabited but is subject to ongoing residential and industrial development projects (Chalastani et al, 2020), which have the potential to increase threats such as artificial light and noise. Global threats such as warming temperature could affect the likelihood of nestingi.e., nesting success, and the time required to prepare a clutch of eggs between oviposition (egg laying) and a successive beach emergence -i.e., re-nesting interval (Davenport, 1997;.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satellite Tracking Reveals Nesting Patterns, Site Fidelity, and Potential Impacts of Warming on Major Green Turtle Rookeries in the Red Sea

et al. 2021

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Major aggregations of nesting green turtles (Chelonia mydas) occur in the northern Red Sea, although little is known about the reproductive ecology of this endangered species in the region. To address this issue, we satellite-tracked 30 female green turtles to document their movements and to identify factors driving habitat use at two major rookeries in the Red Sea, Jazirat Mashabah (Mashabah Island) and Ras Al Baridi in Saudi Arabia. Between successive nesting events, turtles displayed high fidelity to nesting beaches and adjacent in-water habitats (inter-nesting habitats). Using generalized linear mixed models, we estimated the mean probability of nesting per beach emergence (nesting success rate) to be 0.628, and the mean duration between a successful nesting event and the successive emergence onto the beach (re-nesting interval) to be 10.8 days at each site. The nesting success rate was relatively high (>0.8) when the preceding daytime land surface temperature (LST) was lower than 37°C but decreased with elevated daytime LST (<0.4 when >47°C). Re-nesting interval was longer at lower water temperatures and towards the end of the nesting season of individuals. Our study improves the robustness of abundance estimates from census data (e.g., track counts) and shows that the protection of nesting and inter-nesting habitats during a breeding season would be an effective conservation strategy for the species. We discuss how global warming could increase energy expenditure due to lowered nesting success, ultimately compromising the reproductive fitness of these populations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satellite Tracking Reveals Nesting Patterns, Site Fidelity, and Potential Impacts of Warming on Major Green Turtle Rookeries in the Red Sea

et al. 2021

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“…On a large scale, the Red Sea Project, situated on the Al Wajh carbonate platform ( Bruckner et al, 2012 ; Petrovic et al, 2021 ), attempts to develop an environmentally friendly tourist destination while maintaining biologically diverse habitats such as seagrass meadows, mangroves, and coral reefs. By embracing the conservation of the region as a primary goal for all stakeholders and using iterative rounds of marine spatial planning and workshops, the project aims to achieve positive conservation outcomes with clearly defined conservation ( Chalastani et al, 2020 ). Additionally, the project includes elements of future-proofing the coral reefs against increasing occurrences of marine heat waves ( Osman et al, 2018 ) by planning for multiple coral nurseries with the potential to interbreed coral species to develop thermal resilience ( Chalastani et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Survey Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem design as an avenue for improving services provided by carbonate producing marine ecosystems

Westphal

Murphy

Doo

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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Ecosystem Design (ED) is an approach for constructing habitats that places human needs for ecosystem services at the center of intervention, with the overarching goal of establishing self-sustaining habitats which require limited management. This concept was originally developed for use in mangrove ecosystems, and is understandably controversial, as it markedly diverges from other protection approaches that assign human use a minor priority or exclude it. However, the advantage of ED lies within the considered implementation of these designed ecosystems, thus preserving human benefits from potential later disturbances. Here, we outline the concept of ED in tropical carbonate depositional systems and discuss potential applications to aid ecosystem services such as beach nourishment and protection of coastlines and reef islands at risk from environmental and climate change, CO2 sequestration, food production, and tourism. Biological carbonate sediment production is a crucial source of stability of reef islands and reef-rimmed coastlines. Careful implementation of designed carbonate depositional ecosystems could help counterbalance sea-level rise and manage documented erosion effects of coastal constructions. Importantly, adhering to the core ethos of ED, careful dynamic assessments which provide a balanced approach to maximizing ecosystem services (e.g., carbonate production), should identify and avoid any potential damages to existing functioning ecosystems.

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“…Considering the fast-paced urbanization of the Red Sea, it is of paramount importance to support these coastal development projects in their aspirations regarding environmental protection and sustainability (e.g., Chalastani et al, 2020) to effectively protect the Red Sea's biodiversity.…”

Section: Intensified Local Anthropogenic Activities Due To Unprecedented Coastal Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These three projects will be located in areas that currently have a low population density (<100 persons per km 2 ), will stretch over ~35% of the entire eastern periphery of the basin, and overlap with some proposed marine protected areas (MPAs; Figure 1 ). Considering the fast‐paced urbanization of the Red Sea, it is of paramount importance to support these coastal development projects in their aspirations regarding environmental protection and sustainability (e.g., Chalastani et al, 2020 ) to effectively protect the Red Sea's biodiversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A portfolio of climate‐tailored approaches to advance the design of marine protected areas in the Red Sea

Gajdzik

DeCarlo

Aylagas

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

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Intensified coastal development is compromising the health and functioning of marine ecosystems. A key example of this is the Red Sea, a biodiversity hotspot subjected to increasing local human pressures. While some marine‐protected areas (MPAs) were placed to alleviate these stressors, it is unclear whether these MPAs are managed or enforced, thus providing limited protection. Yet, most importantly, MPAs in the Red Sea were not designed using climate considerations, likely diminishing their effectiveness against global stressors. Here, we propose to tailor the design of MPAs in the Red Sea by integrating approaches to enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation. First, including coral bleaching susceptibility could produce a more resilient network of MPAs by safeguarding reefs from different thermal regions that vary in spatiotemporal bleaching responses, reducing the risk that all protected reefs will bleach simultaneously. Second, preserving the basin‐wide genetic connectivity patterns that are assisted by mesoscale eddies could further ensure recovery of sensitive populations and maintain species potential to adapt to environmental changes. Finally, protecting mangrove forests in the northern and southern Red Sea that act as major carbon sinks could help offset greenhouse gas emissions. If implemented with multinational cooperation and concerted effort among stakeholders, our portfolio of climate‐tailored approaches may help build a network of MPAs in the Red Sea that protects more effectively its coastal resources against escalating coastal development and climate instability. Beyond the Red Sea, we anticipate this study to serve as an example of how to improve the utility of tropical MPAs as climate‐informed conservation tools.

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Reconciling Tourism Development and Conservation Outcomes Through Marine Spatial Planning for a Saudi Giga-Project in the Red Sea (The Red Sea Project, Vision 2030)

Cited by 33 publications

References 47 publications

Satellite Tracking Reveals Nesting Patterns, Site Fidelity, and Potential Impacts of Warming on Major Green Turtle Rookeries in the Red Sea

Satellite Tracking Reveals Nesting Patterns, Site Fidelity, and Potential Impacts of Warming on Major Green Turtle Rookeries in the Red Sea

Ecosystem design as an avenue for improving services provided by carbonate producing marine ecosystems

A portfolio of climate‐tailored approaches to advance the design of marine protected areas in the Red Sea

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